About

Sarah Ho is the CVM Director of Student Engagement at the College of Veterinary Medicine at NC State University. Her role involves fostering student development and engagement within the college community. The page highlights her contact information and her position as a key figure in student involvement, but does not provide specific details about her research focus, academic background, or key contributions in the field of veterinary medicine.

Research topics

• Physical therapy
• Pathology
• Psychology
• Internal medicine
• Medicine
• Neuroscience
• Bioinformatics
• Physical medicine and rehabilitation
• Biology

Selected publications

• VALIDATION OF OUTCOMES FOR ASSESSING EMOTIONAL AND COGNITIVE DOMAINS AFFECTED BY NATURALLY-OCCURRING OSTEOARTHRITIS PAIN IN DOGS: PRELIMINARY FINDINGS

  Osteoarthritis and Cartilage · 2026-05-19

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Pharmacokinetics of a Single Subcutaneous Extended‐Release Buprenorphine (Ethiqa <scp>XR</scp> ) in Healthy Beagles

  Journal of Veterinary Pharmacology and Therapeutics · 2026-05-20

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  This study evaluated the pharmacokinetics of an extended-release buprenorphine formulation (Ethiqa XR) in dogs and explored potential sex differences. Twelve healthy intact beagles (6 males and 6 females) received a single subcutaneous injection of Ethiqa XR (0.2 mg/kg). Blood samples were collected up to 168 h post-administration, and plasma buprenorphine concentrations were measured using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Vital signs, sedation, and nausea scores were recorded. Therapeutic plasma concentrations were sustained for approximately 60-90 h in both sexes, depending on the therapeutic threshold used (0.6 or 1.0 ng/mL). Although no significant differences in pharmacokinetics were detected, drug exposure and elimination were greater in females: median peak plasma buprenorphine concentrations (male: 1.6 ng/mL, female: 2.9 ng/mL); median terminal half-life (male: 36.6 h, female: 24.7 h); area under the curve (AUC 0-12 h) (male: 12.8 h*ng/mL, female: 16.9 h*ng/mL); AUC (0-96 h) (male: 94.4 h*ng/mL, female: 137.7 h*ng/mL). Time to maximum concentrations were 24 h in both sexes. Higher buprenorphine concentrations were associated with decreased body temperature and heart rate in both sexes and positively correlated with nausea and sedation scores, but only in females. Ethiqa XR administration resulted in therapeutic plasma concentrations up to 90 h, suggesting it may be an alternative option for post-operative pain control.

  PublisherDOI

• Cross-sectional associations of radiographic multiple joint osteoarthritis and symptoms, laboratory values and the gut microbiota in humans and pet dogs.

  Osteoarthritis and Cartilage · 2025-04-01

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Cross-sectional associations of radiographic multiple joint osteoarthritis and symptoms, laboratory values and the gut microbiota: a multimodal study in humans and pet dogs

  UNC Libraries · 2025-12-12

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Objective To describe the frequency of multiple joint osteoarthritis (MJOA) and symptoms, and associations with fecal microbial diversity and composition, in cohorts of humans and dogs. Design Human participants enrolled in the community-based Johnston County Health Study (JoCoHS), and an independent cohort of pet dogs, were included. Questionnaires, functional assessments, standardized multiple joint radiographs, and pain assessments, blood and fecal samples were obtained. Microbiome analysis was done by 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. MJOA was defined as &ge;3 unique joint sites involved; symptom burden was based on self-reported/proxy measures of pain. Descriptive statistics and Spearman correlations with Benjamini-Hochberg correction were used to determine relationships among lab tests, pain, and microbiome diversity measures. Results Human participants (n=100, 63% women, mean age 56 years, mean body mass index 34 kg/m2) and 115 pet dogs (40% spayed females, 57% neutered males, mean age 8 years, mean weight 27 kg) were included; 20% had radiographic MJOA (rMJOA). Microbial &alpha;-diversity did not differ between participants with or without rMJOA. However, lower levels of the Christensenellaceae R-7 group and Lachnoclostridium in humans, and the butyrate-producing bacterium, Faecalibacterium in dogs, were moderately correlated with greater pain severity, as were higher levels of Escherichia-Shigella in dogs. Faecalibacterium was more abundant in humans without rMJOA. Conclusions These two cohorts demonstrated remarkably similar frequencies of rMJOA (&sim;20%), supporting the use of dogs to model naturally occurring MJOA. Taxa potentially related to rMJOA and pain were identified in this preliminary analysis, providing new insights into links between dysbiosis and MJOA.

  PublisherDOI

• Factors influencing, and associated with, physical activity patterns in dogs with osteoarthritis-associated pain

  Frontiers in Veterinary Science · 2025-03-19 · 5 citations

  articleOpen access

  Background: Accelerometry can be used to measure physical activity and is a validated objective measure for evaluating the impact of osteoarthritis (OA) pain in companion animals. However, several factors other than OA pain can affect physical activity in dogs, and relatively little is understood about their influence. Functional linear modeling (FLM) is an approach for analyzing and visualizing high-frequency longitudinal data such as physical activity and can be used to assess the influence of factors on activity patterns. This study aimed to use FLM to investigate the effect of various factors on physical activity patterns in a cohort of dogs with OA pain. Methods: Ninety-nine client-owned dogs with radiographic and clinical evidence of OA were fitted with a collar-based activity monitor (Actigraph GT3X). Average vector magnitudes were recorded once per minute over 7 days and averaged to create 24-h, per-minute activity profiles for each dog. Demographic information, owner completed OA Clinical Metrology Instruments (Liverpool Osteoarthritis in Dogs and Canine Brief Pain Inventory), and veterinary examination findings (joint pain, muscle atrophy) were collected. Data were analyzed using FLM and a custom R package to evaluate the effect of each factor on 24-h patterns of physical activity. Results: At times of peak activity within a 24-h period, dogs with hindlimb OA pain, higher age, higher Clinical Metrology Instrument scores, higher joint pain, greater Body Condition Score and greater muscle atrophy all had decreased activity profiles. However, only age, hindlimb joint pain, and hindlimb muscle atrophy had statistically significant effects on physical activity. Conclusions and clinical relevance: Several factors influence activity patterns in dogs with OA pain. Understanding what and how factors influence patterns in dogs with OA pain will help refine the usage of physical activity as an objective outcome measure in clinical pain studies.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Quantitative sensory testing in dogs with spontaneous osteoarthritis

  Frontiers in Pain Research · 2025-04-14 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  Objective: To investigate changes in somatosensory sensitivity in dogs with spontaneous osteoarthritis (OA) and pain of the stifle or hip, compared to a group of healthy control dogs. Study design: A non-randomised, non-blinded, prospective research study. Animals: 30 control, 51 OA-pain, and 31 OA-pain dogs receiving NSAIDs. Methods: A range of noxious and non-noxious quantitative sensory testing (QST) modalities were applied. Dogs were tested twice, one month apart. Two sites were tested at each visit: a distal site located on the cranial aspect of the mid metatarsus and a primary site, lateral to the patella (in dogs with stifle OA) or craniodorsally to the greater trochanter (in dogs with coxofemoral OA). Control dogs were tested at appropriate primary sites to produce the same proportion of animals being tested at stifle or hip as those in the OA group. The order in which non-nociceptive and nociceptive tests were performed was randomized for each test site for each animal, although nociceptive tests were always performed after non-nociceptive tests. Feasibility for performing the tests was assessed for the final 45 dogs recruited to the study. The hierarchical structure of the QST testing data was accounted for within the statistical analysis by employing general linear modelling within a multilevel modelling framework using the MLwiN statistics package. Results: Osteoarthritis category was not a major determinant of QST outcome measures for the majority of modalities evaluated. In the few modalities in which OA category was determined to be a significant predictor variable, the results were not consistent with previously reported data. The novel, non-nociceptive tests employed overall suggested non-noxious hypoesthesia in association with OA pain. The feasibility of performing QST assessments was relatively low compared to previous studies. Conclusions: and clinical relevance: In a clinical environment, the variability in feasibility of performing QST between dogs may be sufficient to confound changes in QST outcome measures associated with spontaneous OA.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Physical Activity Monitors in Companion Animal Chronic Pain Research—A Review Focused on Osteoarthritis Pain

  Animals · 2025-07-10 · 1 citations

  reviewOpen access

  Accelerometry-based physical activity monitors (PAMs) are a useful tool to collect objective measurements of physical activity and movement. Recently, there has been an increased utilization of PAMs in companion animal chronic pain research. However, a general lack of understanding of PAMs contributes to challenges and misconceptions around the interpretation and utility of these data. Commercially available devices differ in how they acquire, process, report, and, in some cases, interpret data. Furthermore, various factors relating to the subject, such as age, body condition, and species, clearly influence PAM data, and on top of this, understanding the biological meaning of PAM data is in its relative infancy. This review examines the principles of PAM technology and the technical and biological considerations when applying PAMs to companion animal chronic pain research, in particular osteoarthritis pain research. It also provides an overview of applications of these devices in veterinary chronic pain research thus far, and the potential of these devices in future studies.

  PublisherDOI

• A noninferiority trial evaluating the efficacy of bedinvetmab compared to grapiprant for osteoarthritis-pain in dogs using force plate gait analysis

  Research Square · 2025-09-17

  preprintOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Cross-sectional associations of radiographic multiple joint osteoarthritis and symptoms, laboratory values and the gut microbiota: A multimodal study in humans and pet dogs

  Osteoarthritis and Cartilage Open · 2025-09-24 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access

  Objective: To describe the frequency of multiple joint osteoarthritis (MJOA) and symptoms, and associations with fecal microbial diversity and composition, in cohorts of humans and dogs. Design: Human participants enrolled in the community-based Johnston County Health Study (JoCoHS), and an independent cohort of pet dogs, were included. Questionnaires, functional assessments, standardized multiple joint radiographs, and pain assessments, blood and fecal samples were obtained. Microbiome analysis was done by 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. MJOA was defined as ≥3 unique joint sites involved; symptom burden was based on self-reported/proxy measures of pain. Descriptive statistics and Spearman correlations with Benjamini-Hochberg correction were used to determine relationships among lab tests, pain, and microbiome diversity measures. Results: was more abundant in humans without rMJOA. Conclusions: These two cohorts demonstrated remarkably similar frequencies of rMJOA (∼20 ​%), supporting the use of dogs to model naturally occurring MJOA. Taxa potentially related to rMJOA and pain were identified in this preliminary analysis, providing new insights into links between dysbiosis and MJOA.

  PublisherDOI

• A Randomized, Double-Blinded, Noninferiority Trial Evaluating the Efficacy of Bedinvetmab (Librela), a Fully Canine Anti-Nerve Growth Factor Monoclonal Antibody, Compared to Grapiprant for Osteoarthritis Pain in Dogs using Force Plate Gait Analysis

  Veterinary and Comparative Orthopaedics and Traumatology · 2025-07-01 · 1 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• B. Duncan X. Lascelles

  North Carolina State University

  65 shared

• Jonathan Hash

  North Carolina State University

  12 shared

• Michael G. Conzemius

  University of Minnesota

  10 shared

• Megan Barbar

  University of Minnesota

  10 shared

• Bishoy S. Eskander

  University of Minnesota

  10 shared

• Richard B. Evans

  University of Minnesota

  9 shared

• David Bledsoe

  8 shared

• Robyn Slone

  8 shared

Education

• BVSc, Veterinary Science

  Azabu University

  2010